The present invention relates to vehicle tools and safety devices and more particularly to a hood support piston stopper that maintains the hood support piston assembly extended in a manner to prevent the hood of the vehicle from falling onto a worker while the worker is positioned between the engine and the lifted hood of a vehicle; the hood support piston stopper including an elongated stopper member having a substantially C-shaped cross section along the length thereof; a lateral insertion slot along the entire length thereof for allowing the rod portion of a hood support piston to be inserted into a piston rod receiving channel defined by the elongated stopper member; a storage tether attached to an end of the elongated stopper member for allowing convenient storage of the hood support piston stopper within the engine compartment when it is not in use; a cylinder insertion slot being provided at one end of the elongated stopper member wherein the cylinder insertion slot is greater in width than the lateral insertion slot to allow a bottom end of the cylinder to rest on a ledge top formed at the connection point of the lateral insertion slot and the cylinder insertion slot; the elongated stopper member being positioned over an extended piston rod of a hood support piston to prevent the piston rod from sliding back into the cylinder while a person is positioned between the lifted vehicle hood and the engine.
Many times the hood support piston assembly of a vehicle will become damaged to the point where it does not reliably support the hood of the vehicle in the raised position. When a person is positioned between the raised hood and the engine of the vehicle, severe injuries can occur should the hood support piston assembly suddenly allow the hood to drop. It would of course be a benefit to anyone having such a problem with the hood support piston assembly of their vehicle or anybody who works on car engines or the like to have a stopper structure that could be positioned in connection with the hood support piston assembly in a manner to prevent the piston rod of the hood support piston assembly from sliding back into the cylinder. To maintain the stopper in a handy location under the vehicle hood of a vehicle with a faulty hood support piston assembly it would be a further benefit to have a tether for securing the stopper in an out of the way but readily accessible location under the vehicle hood.
It is thus an object of the invention to provide a hood support piston stopper that includes an elongated stopper member having a substantially C-shaped cross section along the length thereof; a lateral insertion slot along the entire length thereof for allowing the rod portion of a hood support piston to be inserted into a piston rod receiving channel defined by the elongated stopper member; a storage tether attached to an end of the elongated stopper member for allowing convenient storage of the hood support piston stopper within the engine compartment when it is not in use; a cylinder insertion slot being provided at one end of the elongated stopper member wherein the cylinder insertion slot is greater in width than the lateral insertion slot to allow a bottom end of the cylinder to rest on a ledge top formed at the connection point of the lateral insertion slot and the cylinder insertion slot; the elongated stopper member being positioned over an extended piston rod of a hood support piston to prevent the piston rod from sliding back into the cylinder while a person is positioned between the lifted vehicle hood and the engine.
Accordingly, a hood support piston stopper is provided. The hood support piston stopper includes an elongated stopper member having a substantially C-shaped cross section along the length thereof; a lateral insertion slot along the entire length thereof for allowing the rod portion of a hood support piston to be inserted into a piston rod receiving channel defined by the elongated stopper member; a storage tether attached to an end of the elongated stopper member for allowing convenient storage of the hood support piston stopper within the engine compartment when it is not in use; a cylinder insertion slot being provided at one end of the elongated stopper member wherein the cylinder insertion slot is greater in width than the lateral insertion slot to allow a bottom end of the cylinder to rest on a ledge top formed at the connection point of the lateral insertion slot and the cylinder insertion slot; the elongated stopper member being positioned over an extended piston rod of a hood support piston to prevent the piston rod from sliding back into the cylinder while a person is positioned between the lifted vehicle hood and the engine.